Old Enough to Know Better [The Corsakis Hotel 2] (Siren Publishing Menage Amour)

by Serena Akeroyd

  “From what you’ve learned today, can’t you see that we’re more than serious? It’s the way it’s going to be. There is no way in hell that we’re going to miss out on more time with you. If it means taping Loukas’s mouth shut and making Aaron walk around nude to keep you around, then we’ll do it.”

  She grinned at that, then, in a confiding tone, murmured, “He does have a nice butt.”

  He snorted. “Those abs of his do it for me.”

  Her lips kicked up at the corner. “Well, the whole package is rather nice. Saying that, Loukas makes a pretty picture too.” She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t normally like hairy men, not that he’s really hairy, but—”

  “He’s gorgeous, isn’t he? Arrogant bastard that he is, I can’t take that away. Even if it makes his ego even larger than usual.”

  “I like that about him.”

  “What? That he’s a tosser?”

  At that, she outright laughed, and he pulled a face at her. “Yeah, he is, but that’s part of his charm.”

  “Just because we love him doesn’t mean to say we’re blind to his faults. Loukas is arrogant and domineering. Aaron can be selfish, and he’s very, very driven. A one-track mind is nothing to what he has. Loving them means embracing their flaws, that’s all.”

  “I like that.” She smiled. “It’s true. It does mean accepting all the bad as well as good.”

  He shrugged. “It’s just the way I see it. We all have parts of our nature that will piss each other off, but it’s about compromise. When you move in with us, you’ll see.”

  Cocking a brow, Alexa commented, “Talk about pressure.”

  “What? You don’t think that will be happening? Think again.”

  She glared at him. “I’ll move in with you if and when I’m ready.”

  “That’s a given. But it won’t take long. Mark my words.”

  With an eye roll, she stood. “I need a shower, and I need to get ready.”

  He reached for her hand as she made to move away. “I’m not pushing you, Alexa. I’m just telling you how it’s going to be. How it was always supposed to be before your grandfather got involved. Yeah, you’re right. Things are different now. We have to work around the new people we are, but we were made to be together, Alexa. What’s the point in fighting it?”

  Chapter Nine

  On the drive over to the yacht harbored at the club, Alexa had had enough time to herself to recognize the truth in Leon’s words. When he’d become so wise, she didn’t know, but she couldn’t lie, she didn’t particularly appreciate coming up against his wisdom.

  It was one thing knowing he was right, but admitting it to herself, well, that was another matter entirely.

  Things had changed so quickly, and yeah, she was glad about that. All her adult life, she’d been railing against the belief that she was a pervert for wanting three men. It was all right saying every person had the right to do whatever the hell they wanted, but in Greece, it wasn’t like that.

  It was still extremely traditional. Relationships like these were more than just rare. Or if they weren’t, they were like Leon had said—secret. Hidden.

  She wanted to rail against that. She loved and was loved. After so many years of believing the contrary, she wanted to scream it from the rooftops. But at the same time, she was a child born of this country and knew Leon to be right.

  Even if she didn’t like it.

  “You’re thinking hard again.”

  She smiled. “I have a lot to think about.”

  “All of it good, I hope.”

  A shrug was part of her answer. “Half of it, I guess. I’m just trying to get myself up to speed with the way I felt this morning and how I feel now.”

  He squeezed her hand, and she had to admit how wonderful it felt to have that simple connection with him. Such a gentle, innocuous touch and yet, it was so inordinately delicious, she knew her pussy would be wet if she slipped her hand down her panties and touched herself.

  Shuddering a little at the thought, she had to push away the white noise buzzing in her ears to hear Leon’s comment. “It will take time. That’s a given. But know this, what we have, here, could not be more right.”

  A smile brushed her lips. “True.”

  He took her hand, raised it to his mouth, and pressed a kiss to the top of her knuckles. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted this. To be with you on your twenty-eighth birthday. It’s beyond our wildest dreams how accepting you are of the truth behind why we left you.”

  “Those pictures said it all, Leon. The house, too. Even when we were kids, you three were all modern freaks. You didn’t like the traditional stuff.”

  “Every part of that property was designed with you in mind. We had to ask your mother a few sneaky questions, make sure your tastes hadn’t changed, but it is a home for us but made for you.”

  “I can’t believe she never mentioned you asking her things about me.”

  “I don’t know how aware Agathe was of what happened between us. She never said anything outright.”

  “She never really asked me why we fell out, so I wonder if she did know. She’d have asked otherwise, right? I mean, we spent so much time together that last summer. You were always at my house, or I was at yours, or we were at the beach or the clubhouse. Then, that just stopped.” She blinked, realizing how odd it was not to have made the connection before. “She should have asked me what was going on, surely?”

  He shrugged. “People fall out.”

  “Yeah, but Agathe is, well, nosy.”

  “True.”

  “That means she did know.”

  He gripped her hand. “Don’t get mad at her and spoil the party. That’s the only damned reason we left our bed.”

  She snorted. “I think I have the right to be pissed off at her for keeping something like that from me.”

  “Maybe, maybe not. You don’t know what her motivations were.”

  “Screw her motivations. She should have told me.”

  “Look, you can ask her tomorrow. Don’t ruin today. This is a special night for us all.”

  She looked at him from the corner of her eye. “So, considering you have all of this planned, who am I officially with tonight?”

  “We’re heading to the house and then onto the yacht, because you’re officially with Loukas. He’s the one who has to be careful.”

  “Does that mean, in your head, he’s the one I’m marrying? Considering according to you lot, that’s where this is heading.”

  “Can’t put anything past you, can I?”

  She huffed. “Have you picked out my wedding dress too?”

  He studied her with a frown. “No, we thought it a bit presumptuous.”

  Hearing his sarcasm, she tutted. “I should goddamn think so! Hell’s bells, Leon. What if I don’t want to get married?”

  “Don’t you?”

  “That isn’t the point,” she returned, and completely understood his scowl of confusion, because hell, she was confused herself.

  “It isn’t?”

  “No!”

  “Well, what is the point, then?”

  “That us, this thing between us all, has only existed for”—she raised her wrist to study her watch—“for less than eight hours. It’s a bit soon to be planning our nuptials, don’t you think?”

  “We’ve had ten years to plan,” was his comeback. “I’m not taking you to the church now, am I?” When she glared at him, he glared back. “Well, I’m not! Think yourself lucky.”

  “This is very overwhelming.”

  “Good. It should be. That means we’re doing it right.”

  She growled under her breath, infuriated beyond belief, and then, a thought whispered through her mind. God, she loved coming up against them, railing and battling them. They were so arrogant, to their core, that she’d butted heads with all of them, sometimes in the same day! She’d missed it. She’d missed feeling so fucking exasperated that she wanted to throttle someone. She’d felt their absence
and had missed their presence in her world.

  This felt good.

  Yeah, she was being shepherded, and no, she wouldn’t let it continue, but it felt right.

  These three men had formed her into the woman she was today. They’d made her strong, invulnerable. They’d made it so her one weakness was them but that the rest of the world was her playground, one that she could reign because she had the gumption to hold the reins. Even the panic attacks revolved around them, their safety. They were her Achilles’ heel. Nothing else could touch her.

  She peered out of the window, saw that they were on the coast road that would lead toward Leon’s house. It was about fifteen minutes away. “Is there a priest waiting for us there?” she snapped. “Have the banns been called?”

  Leon patted her knee. “No, you’ll know once they have been.”

  Her hair whipped her cheek as she turned to face him. Spotting the grin on his face, she growled again, then raised her hands, grabbed him by the throat, and brought his lips to hers.

  She ended this argument like she’d wanted to end all the others.

  With a kiss.

  And God, it scorched her. It razed her body, turned her bones to ashes. His tongue fucked her mouth. Her lips bit at his. They ate at each other, teasing and enticing. She snapped her teeth down against his bottom lip, tugged at it, nibbled at the morsel, and groaned when she felt his hands clasp her cheeks and hold her close.

  As their tongues worked, she clambered up onto the seat, not breaking the connection, and swung a leg over his lap. They both moaned when she sat down on his lap, her molten heat pressing into his erection. She rocked her hips, reveling in the sensation, adoring that she had the right to do this, to drive them both crazy.

  Just when Leon’s hand dropped down to scramble under her top and discover the fact she was braless, the sound of the road the limo was on changed, from the smooth roll of tarmac to the crushed cracking of gravel as it slipped beneath the weight of the car. She barely noticed, only realized they’d arrived at the house when the back door opened and two very amused men laughed.

  She pulled away from Leon to glare at them both. Uncaring that she was rumpled, her top half on, half off, her lips bee-stung with the power of her lover’s kisses. “Get in the car,” she bit out before she returned to Leon’s mouth and started rocking her hips, sliding her clothes-covered cunt over his hardness.

  “Yes, ma’am,” came the retort, but she ignored their humor, too intent on what was happening to care.

  She felt the door being slammed and the limo’s carriage shake a little as Aaron and Loukas got into the car. Alexa swayed when the engine started, and then, and only then, did she reach between them, her hands heading for Leon’s fly. Suddenly, fingers were there, holding her back from her goal. She pulled away to glare at the callused touch, recognizing Aaron’s intervention and feeling nothing more than annoyed by it.

  “What are you doing?” she demanded.

  “Stopping you from going to your twenty-eighth birthday party with cum on your face.”

  “I’ll lick it clean,” Loukas offered, and received a pained sigh for his efforts.

  “See?” Alexa smugly told Aaron.

  “That isn’t helpful, Loukas. Alexa, you need to calm down and sort yourself out. You’re…well, ‘rumpled’ is the best word I can use to describe you.”

  “Do I look like I care?”

  “No, you look like you want to fuck, and believe me, I’d love to indulge you, but Agathe has spent a lot of time planning this party, and after all her help and kindness over the years, I don’t want to repay that with you walking onto the yacht looking like you’ve just had sex.”

  Deflated at his talk of her mother, she grunted. “You prefer me to walk onto the boat looking sexually frustrated, Aaron?”

  “In this case, yes.”

  “Never let it be said that I’m the hard-ass in this relationship,” Loukas commented at her side, as he’d taken the seat next to her. He raised an arm and slid it along the headrest. When she begrudgingly climbed off Leon’s lap, it was actually worth being denied from going further with him, because Loukas slipped his arm down and pressed her closer against him.

  It was bliss. Serious bliss.

  She curled into him, felt him press a kiss to her forehead, and even though, that quickly, she was utterly at peace, she couldn’t resist throwing some cayenne pepper into the silence. “So, I just learned we’re engaged.”

  Typical Loukas, he didn’t react. He didn’t even stiffen. Loukas rolled with the punches, whatever those punches were, wherever they were aimed.

  She grinned in the darkened cab, enjoying his lack of reaction.

  “Didn’t you know?” he asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “We’re not going to your party. We’re going to the church.”

  Even though she thought he was joking, she tensed. Her teasing had backfired. She should have known not to mess with Loukas. His poker face would earn him a fortune at the card tables.

  His seriousness had her peering up at him. “Don’t tease.”

  “What? Like you were teasing me?” he retorted silkily.

  “No, I wasn’t. Leon told me that if we get married, I’ll be marrying you.”

  “There’s no ‘if’ about it, agape mou,” came the next silken words. “But no, it won’t be now. Don’t bait the lion in his den, though.”

  She pouted. “That’s no fun. I forgot you didn’t have a sense of humor.”

  At her insult, he chuckled. “Not where you’re concerned, love.” He squeezed her arm. “It’s too early for such talk of engagements and weddings.”

  “Not according to Leon.”

  “Leon overstepped himself.” She felt Leon fidget at her side. “The last thing we want is to overwhelm you.”

  “Because three lovers aren’t overwhelming,” Aaron inserted wryly.

  “Not when she’s always wanted us,” Loukas denied. “We all know where the future lies, but let’s live in the present.” As always, Loukas was the voice of reason. “We have many happy days ahead of us because this one has been so successful. Not a one of us believed you would come to understand our predicament as swiftly as you did, Alexa. We’re blessed, and we’ll count those blessings.” He reached for her hand, pressed it to his lips. “I don’t want you to feel pressured by this, but, I do want you to know that you’re ours. Just like we’ve always been yours. That has never changed. No amount of familial duty could ever change that, and nothing ever will.

  “We’ve survived ten years apart, barely, so let’s enjoy the moment.”

  Something inside her settled at his simple words. He spoke the truth, and that truth connected with her heart. Today had been upheaval after upheaval, and in one fell swoop, she’d gone from self-loathing over her continued attraction and deep feelings for the three men who had scorned her, to falling into their clutches once more. Hook, line, and sinker.

  Did she feel doomed?

  Maybe earlier she had. Just a smidgen.

  When Leon had tried to comfort her with promises of the future, a future that would bind her to all three, she had felt overwhelmed. But at Loukas’s remarks, in one go, he had taken away any tension she had.

  This was meant to be.

  The stars, fate, her grandfather, nothing and no one would ever keep them apart again.

  She’d see to that. And if she couldn’t, she knew these three would kill to safeguard what they were rediscovering in each other.

  The rest of the journey passed in relative silence. The faint clink of crystal as Aaron poured himself a shot of something, faint murmurs as Leon requested one too. Piped-in Mozart filled the airwaves in a gentle hum, and close to her, the silent whisper of Loukas’s breath brushed her hair in a tickling caress.

  Talk about a birthday present.

  She’d never imagined anything like this this morning. Never. Not in a million years.

  Ever since Aaron’s phone call a few weeks back, s
he’d been expecting some kind of guerrilla warfare, bizarre and random attacks designed to snag her attention.

  She guessed that this morning at the attorney’s office counted, but she’d never imagined it would end this way.

  Her chin trembled at the heavy weight on her chest. It was happiness. It suffocated her for a second, made tears prick her eyes with its encompassing bloom.

  A woman shouldn’t rely on a man to make her happy, never mind three of them, but she’d felt alone for so long. Left to fend for herself, wind through the maze of believing herself a pervert because of harsh words her grandfather had told her loves to tell her…He had a lot to answer for. Whether it was for her sake or not.

  She was not her aunt.

  She was not self-destructive.

  She should not have been penalized for being a woman, for daring to share the same gender as her aunt Xanthe.

  If she thought about it, she knew her anger could overpower the delicious blossoming happiness overtaking her, and that was counterproductive.

  Today was the start of something new, something beautiful.

  It was the first day of a new life.

  As the thought crossed her mind, the car started slowing down, and in the near distance, the blazing lights of her family’s yacht glared into her eyes. She could see hundreds of people milling about, far too many for her to know but guests who’d been invited because it would have been rude not to include them.

  Her mother had spent the last two months organizing this, and she hoped for her sake that it went well. For herself, she fully admitted that she needed nothing more than these three in here, in this limo with her, to round off her birthday in style.

  Chapter Ten

  “Darling!”

  Seeing Agathe zero in on them, Loukas kept his arm curled about Alexa’s shoulder. Primarily, because he wanted to keep her close. The last ten years had been a lesson in torture. Having to attend these damned parties, to socialize with people he didn’t give a damn about, and all to get a glimpse of the love of his life blossom from a young woman into the ripe, earthy creature who stood here today.